Figure wheeled toy



'Aug. 20, 1929. s, BERGER I 1,725,247

- FIGURED WHEELED TOY v Filed June 20, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 g- 20, 1929- s. I. BERGER 1,725,247

FIGURED WHEELED T'OVY Filed June 20, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 avwento'c sa hl Patented Aug. 20, 1929.

SAMUEL I. BERGER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

FIGURE WHEELED TOY.

Application filed June 20, 1925. Serial No. 38,421.

My present invention relates to improvements in mechanical toys in which one or more movable figures are mounted upon a moving carriage both the figures and carriage being actuated from a common source of power.

An ob'ect of the invention is to provide a toy of this character which will prove interesting and amusing to children, a'toy which can be manufactured with comparative economy and onewhich is unlikely to get out of order under the ordinary use and abuse to which it will be subjected.

In a preferred embodiment of the inven- 5 tion the carriage is constructed to simulate a freight car, this carriage serving as a housing for a spring motor which drives the traction wheels. The roof of the car serves as a platform upon which are mounted one J or more toy figures actuated from the motor while the car is in motion.

A' feature of the invention is the Simple mechanism by which motive power is trans mittcd from the motor to the figures mounted on the carriage. A further feature is the manner in which the freight car is accurately but inexpensively simulated. With the above noted and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel 3 features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims. Reference is had to the ac companying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the Fig. 2 is a'sectional view on line 22 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation indicating a modification.

The carriage, as above suggested, is shaped to closely simulate a conventional type of box car including side walls 10, end walls 11, and a roof 12. The roof is formed with a central longitudinal section 13 which carries the toy figures and which is assembled as a unit with the toys. This roof section may be readil removable if desired. Section 13 is prefera ly in the nature of a platform including depending marginal 5.5 flanges 14 adapted to embrace upstanding flanges 15 at the inner edges of the adjacent sections of the roof.

The simulation of the freight car may be carried out not only by the shape of the carriage but by the decorations thereof, the carriage being painted, lithographed or otherwise decorated to imitate conventional box car construction. Preferably depending flanges 17, 17, at the ends of the lower edge of each side wall simulate the trucks of the car and also serve to substantially conceal the traction wheels 18, 19 upon which the carriage moves. To simulate the hand brake, I mount an inverted cup shaped socket member 20 on the roof section 13 by the use of bendable tongues 21 which pass through and bend under the end of the roof section. A squared vertical shaft or rod 22 gripped in the cup shaped socket passes through the roof and has its lower end upset at 23'to prevent withdrawal thereof. The upper end of the shaft mounts the representation of the brake wheel 24.

To provide a mounting for the motor frame and for the traction wheels, I secure a bottom plate 25 between the lower edges of the side walls of the carriage, this plate preferably terminating short of the ends of the carriage, as indicated in Fig. 2. Openings 26, 27 in the bottom plate accommodate the traction wheels 18, 19. Wheels 18 serve as the driving wheels and are fixed upon a square axle 28 turning in bearing brackets 29 which depend from and are integral with the bottom plate 25. The front wheels 19 may turn freely upon a round axle 30 journaled in similar brackets 29 depending from the bottom plate, this axle being disposed at an angle to the transverse plane of the carriage so that the carriage will be driven in a circle.

Supported upon the bottom plate 25 is a transverse motor frame plate 31 preferably formed with cooperating"angularly disposed bearing plates 32 for mounting the various 100 shafts. The motor is similar in many respects to that disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 17,162, filed March 21, 1925, but has been reorganized for the purpose of simultaneously driving the carriage 105 and actuating the figures. The drum shaft 33 has hearings in the motor frame plate 31 and the rear end of the car and is connected with a handle or winding key 34 disposed on the exterior of the car, Conven- 1 tional ratchet and pawl mechanism 35, 36 prevent retrograde movement of the drum shaft. The ratchet wheel fixed to the drum shaft, serves to wind a coiled torsional spring 37 which drives a crown gear 38 fixed to the drum.

' A driving shaft 39 and counter shaft 40 journaled one above the other in the bearing plates 32 carry a train of speed increasing gears, 41, 42, 43, 44, the first of which is directly driven-from the crown gear. The remainder of the train acts by inertia to exert a fly wheel effect on the motor in the manner described in my previous applications. The first wheel 41 of the gear train is connected to the crown gear by an integral skeleton pinion 41, this pinion driving a power transmitting gear 45 mounted upon a shaft 46 in the lower end of the bearing plates. Gear 45 in turn drives a pinion 47 fixed to the axle so that power from the crown gear is transmitted to the axle.

Pivoted to the lower end of one of the frame plates 32, is an actuating lever 48 for imparting movement to the figures on the roof of the car. This lever is formed with an offset portion 49 guided intermediate its ends in a slot 50 in the motor frame plate 31, and terminates in an upwardly presented free end 51 engageable in an opening 52 in a reciprocating bar 53 secured to and concealed by the roof section 13. The lever may be conveniently oscillated to cause the reciprocation of the bar by forming it intermediate its ends with a slot 54 in which works an eccentric or crank 55 secured to or integral with the end of the drive shaft 39. From the foregoing description, it will be evident that the motor simultaneously rotates the axle 28 of the driving wheels 18 and reciprocates the bar 53. It will be evident that this reciprocation might be utilized to impart a diversity of movements to fig- 62 struck downwardly from theroof section.

ures on the roof of the ear, but I prefer to use it to oscillate such figures. The bar is preferably in the nature of a shallow tray having at each end an upwardly projecting tongue 56 guided in a slot 57 in the roof section 13, these tongues having enlarged upper ends 58 to retain the bar in place.

Toy figures 59, 60 are mounted upon the upper ends of levers 61 pivoted in flanges The figures may be constructed in any suitable manner but I prefer to form them of complementary metal stampings secured together in a conventional manner by bendable interlocking tongues. The lower ends of the levers 61 pass through slots 63 in the bar 53 so that as the bar reeiprocates, the

* levers are forced to swing about their pivots carrying with them the figures. In Figs. 1 to 3, I have indicated the figures as comprising a runnmg tramp 59 closely pursued by a dog 60 which has hold of his coat tail. The head of the dog and the tail of the coat are preferably integral or connected rigidly together and connected pivotally to the toy figures of which they form a part as at 59 and 60. Thus the oscillating levers cause the dog figure and the human figure to simu late running and the head of the dog and the tail of the coat move independently of the remainder of the figures on the levers and the dog appears to be jumping at and biting the coat tail.

The body of the carriage or freight car may be decorated in accordance with the nature of the figures on the car roof. In the present instance, the car body shows a group of tramps apparently stealing a ride on the car.

In the form of Fig. 5, the toy figures 7 5 represent a number of chickens feeding out of a pan 7 6, the carriage is painted to represent a car of the character generally employed for carrying live stock and displays the representation of a number of crates of chickens within the car.

\Vith this form of the device, I have shown four figure supporting levers 77, instead of two, oscillated by the reciprocating banthese levers being mounted in the assembled roof section and connected to the bar, in the same manner as that above described. The figures of the chickens are shown in oppositely facing pairs with the representation of a feed pan 76 between them. As the levers swing all of the chickens may be caused to dip their heads into the pan at the same time, or pairs may be caused to'dip their heads as the reciprocating bar reaches opposite ends of its stroke.

I have shown no braking mechanism to retard the motor during the winding operation but either the driving wheels of the car or the figures may be held while the key is turned. The car is then placed upon the floor, the motor propelling it and at the same time causing actuation of the toy figures. The angle at which the front wheels are mounted assures the movement of the vehicle in a restricted circular path.

Within the principles of the present invention, I may of course, employ a wide variety of figures and it will be apparent that the reciprocating motion of the bar may be translated into other types of movement than that illustrated. The operation of the device will be fairly apparentfrom the foregoing description.

It will thus be seen that there is herein described apparatus in which the several features of this invention are embodied, and which apparatus in its action attains the various objects of the invention and is well suited to meet therequirements of practical use.

As many changes could be made in the above construcltion and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A toy of the class described including a carriage constructed to simulate a freight car, said carriage comprising side walls, end walls, and a roof and including a substantially cup shaped socket member removably secured in inverted position upon the roof,

a post secured in the socket and an imitation brake Wheel mounted on the upper end of the post.

2. A toy of the class described including a motor casing, a platform forming part of the motor casing, a pair of toy figures pivoted on the platform, means operated by 1 the motor for actuating the figures, each of said figures including a portion integrally connected to a portion of the other figure and pivotally connected to the figure of which it forms a part.

3. A toy of the class described including a carriage constructed to simulate a freight car, traction wheels, a motor for driving the wheels, toy figures disposed on the roof of the car, said figures being connected to a section of the roof for assembly as a unit therewith, a reciprocating bar carried by the roof section for actuating the figures, an operating lever actuated by the motor and having an end accommodated by a slot in the bar whereby the assembly of the roof section with the carriage automatically connects the bar With the motor.

4. A toy of the class described including a self-propelled carriage, a pair of toy figures mounted on the top of the carriage, one of the toys representing a fleeing human figure, one of the toys representing a pursuing animal figure, the head of the animal figure and the rear of the human figure being rigidly connected to each other, and pivotally connected to the figures of which they form a part, and means for imparting motion to the figures.

Signed at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey this 18th day of June, A. D. 1925.

SAMUEL I. BERGER. 

